Senior Product Designer, UI/UX
Product Design · Design Systems · Digital Craft
Department
Creative
Reports To
Head of Creative
Location
Cape Town, South Africa — V&A Waterfront studio
Working Model
Hybrid: 3 days in studio, 2 days remote
Employment Type
Full-time, permanent
Direct Reports
None - Senior individual contributor
Salary
Market Related
Start Date
As soon as possible
Arilo Inc. is an AI-native creative production and marketing agency with studios in New York City, Cape Town, and the Philippines. We build digital-first work. Campaigns, product and web experiences, key visuals, brand systems for clients from global luxury beauty and skincare brands to high-growth startups. We are a small, senior team that punches well above its weight, and we hold creative quality, strategic thinking and operational excellence as non-negotiable.
We are looking for a Senior Product Designer to own UI/UX across Arilo's digital product work. You will take complex business systems and functional requirements and turn them into simple, intuitive, market-ready products, leading design end-to-end from discovery through developer handoff, and building the design systems that make that work scale. This is a craft role with leadership reach. You will set the standard for digital product design at Arilo, coach designers who are not UI/UX-trained, and present your rationale directly to clients. Websites and email are part of the job; software is the reason the role exists. We care as much about why we are building something as how it looks, so marketing context matters here as much as visual judgement.
What You'll Own
Product Design, End-to-End
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Lead UI/UX independently - discovery, user flows, journey architecture, wireframes, high-fidelity interfaces, prototyping, and developer handoff
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Design dashboards, SaaS platforms, web applications, and mobile products, down to component behaviour, interface states, and micro-interactions
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Translate complexity into simplicity: understand products at a systems level and design your way to the simplest experience that works
Design Systems and Handoff
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Build and maintain scalable design systems - reusable components, design tokens, interaction patterns, and documentation
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Partner with the development team so design intent survives implementation, through structured files, clear specifications, and practical collaboration
Craft, Data & Client Work
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Use analytics, session recordings, and usability findings to locate friction, then rebuild flows toward faster, more intuitive experiences
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Raise the standard of digital design across Arilo through review, critique, and coaching
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Present design thinking to clients and stakeholders, absorb feedback, and build trust
What You Bring
Essential
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Around five or more years designing digital products, with a portfolio of shipped software - dashboards, SaaS platforms, web or mobile applications
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Proven ability to simplify complex systems, business logic, and workflows into clean, usable design
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Expert-level Figma: components, variables, auto layout, design systems, prototyping, and Dev Mode
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Exceptional typography, layout, and interaction craft, with a deep feel for scale, composition, and hierarchy
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Fluency using data, research, and usability insight to improve products
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Confident client-facing communication - presenting rationale and giving constructive critique
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Professional fluency in written and spoken English
Advantageous
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Agency or studio experience across multiple client brands and brand systems
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Working knowledge of HTML/CSS and modern front-end constraints, especially React-based products
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Defined AI workflows for research synthesis, ideation, or rapid prototyping using tools such as Figma Make, Claude, or ChatGPT
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Usability and analytics tooling (Maze, GA4, Hotjar, Mixpanel), motion tools (After Effects, Rive, Lottie), and WCAG accessibility standards
How You'll Work
You will be the senior product design voice in a compact, senior-oriented organisation.
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You report to the Head of Development and work daily with the product, digital and creative teams
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You partner with the Head of Development on technical builds and handoff, and with the Head of Operations on timelines
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Studio days are for the collaborative work, product definition, concept flows, critiques and workshops. Remote days are for deep design work.
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The Founder is involved directly on strategic accounts and creative direction
Success in the Role
Twelve months in:
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Complex requirements consistently arrive as product experiences that feel simple and obvious to use
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A living design system underpins our product work, and handoffs are clean enough that developers rarely need to ask
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Product decisions are grounded in behaviour and data, with measurable iteration behind them
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Clients trust your rationale, and the standard of digital craft across Arilo has visibly risen
Compensation and Benefits
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Market related remuneration
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Hybrid working: three days in the V&A Waterfront studio, two days remote
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Tooling and software budget to support the work - including AI tooling
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Annual learning and conference allowance
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The opportunity to define Arilo's product design practice and design system from the ground up
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Direct partnership with the Founder on high-profile client work, within a fast-growing, internationally operating agency
How to Apply
Send your portfolio, CV and a short note on why this role interests you. We want to see shipped software, flows you designed, systems you built and interfaces that show real craft. If you have built AI into your design process, show us that too.
Shortlisted candidates can expect a portfolio conversation with the Head of Creative, a working session on a real design problem, and a final conversation with the Founder. We aim to respond to every application within two weeks.
Arilo Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and will gladly make reasonable adjustments to our process - tell us what you need.
